Malfeasance at State Police Crime Lab

BOSTON – The scope of the investigation into the improper handling of drug samples by a state crime lab chemist spans 34,000 cases over the past nine and a half years, according to the Patrick administration, heightening fears that the breach of justice could be widespread and difficult to unravel. …

The list represents an estimated 34,000 cases worked on by the chemist in question between 2003 and 2012 spanning her entire period of employment at the DPH, according to the Massachusetts State Police and the Executive Office of Public Safety. The administration said there was no estimate on how many of those cases may have been mishandled by the chemist, which could not only jeopardize convictions, but threaten confidence in the criminal justice system.